I figured I would give this a try, I have a only had this table a couple of weeks and it has pockets that are right at 4.5 inches and old cloth (waiting on Glen):smile:.. It plays tight.
I am usually just see and shoot player anymore. To do this I had to go to fractional aiming which is not how I normally aim so this was a good test for me.
While not perfect I think it is close enough to show that a better player using any method could do this one.. The length of table video is the one like Dave and I had done years ago and I could not do 15 then and I don't think I could do it now, at least without practicing it. The banks would be the most difficult.
I do believe a pro level player could come close or duplicate these using what ever method they use.
One thing is for sure Stan did a great job of showing what is possible!:smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHgnI3bL5o
I also need to apologize to John for my comment yesterday, sorry John I was just a little on edge!
Mark
Nice. Your room looks really neat as well. I like all the old signs on the walls.
My take on this is that with a systematic approach to aiming, be it ProOne/CTE or SEE or 90/90 or even the fractional aiming the pockets are not needed. They are there and don't move. You make the connection to the shot based on the approach to the shot and you dial in either precisely as with ProOne or maybe less precisely with other methods, or even as precisely, but you dial-in. You're not guessing or imagining or fidgeting.
Yes, I totally agree that any high level player should be able to shoot shots in without being able to see the pockets. These players have faced these angles so many times in their life it's like being able to throw a paper ball into a wastebasket without looking after you have done it a zillion times.
What systematic aiming does is put the player in the right frame from the beginning ON EVERY SHOT. That's important to say because when a person is trying to learn a shot without systematic aiming, depending on the severity of the shot, they can miss by diamonds on either side of the pocket. But with systematic aiming they don't miss by a diamond more than once if they happened to choose the wrong aim point. When they have found the right aimpoints and visuals which takes less than a minute, they then miss, if they miss, by fractions of an inch.
And the more they practice that system the more adept they become at seeing the right visual/formula for any shot they face.
AND THIS IS WHERE IT'S IMPORTANT.
Sorry for shouting but this is where using a system pays off.
Once you know it then you OWN it for ANY SHOT YOU FACE.
Even the shots that you have never practiced in your life. Even the seemingly impossible ones. Even the do-or-die ones that you would normally avoid like the plague and would otherwise sell out 10 of 10 tries. For all those shots with a good system you have a better than 50% chance to make it on the first time you ever face it.
And if you are really a good student and you know the visuals then you have a better than 80% chance to make it.
And if you're Landon Shuffet or Stan Shuffet or Stevie Moore then those shots that announcers call "testers" don't look so tough anymore and you have a better chance than most other players of any level to make that shot under pressure.
That to me is the biggest advantage of systematic aiming.